§ 23-704 — Extradition.

District of Columbia § 23-704

• Jurisdiction: District of Columbia
• Title 23: Criminal Procedure. [Enacted title]
• Ch. 7: Extradition and Fugitives from Justice.

Text

(a) In all cases where the laws of the United States provide that fugitives from justice shall be delivered up, the chief judge of the Superior Court shall cause to be apprehended and delivered up fugitives from justice who shall be found within the District of Columbia, in the same manner and under the same regulations as the executive authority of a State is required to do by the provisions of chapter 209 of Title 18, United States Code, and all executive and judicial officers are required to obey the lawful precepts or other process issued for that purpose, and to aid and assist in that delivery.

(b) The chief judge of the Superior Court may also surrender, on demand of the Governor of any State, any person in the District of Columbia charged in that State in the manner provided in subsection (a) of this section with committing an act in the District of Columbia, or in another State, intentionally resulting in a crime in the State whose executive authority is making the demand, even though the accused was not in that State at the time of the commission of the crime, and has not fled therefrom.

(c) No person apprehended in accordance with the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall be delivered over to the agent whom the executive authority demanding him shall have appointed to receive him unless he shall first be taken before the chief judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia who shall inform him of the demand made for his surrender, and of the crime with which he is charged, and that he has the right to demand and procure legal counsel.

(d) If the person or his counsel shall state that he desires to test the legality of the person’s arrest, the chief judge shall hold a hearing to determine whether the person shall be delivered over as demanded. At the hearing, the person shall have the same rights to challenge his detention and extradition as if the hearing were upon a writ of habeas corpus.

(e) If the chief judge shall order the person delivered over, he may appeal, within twenty-four hours, from that order to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals if the chief judge who rendered the order, or a judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, issues a certificate of probable cause. The appeal shall be expedited by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person who is authorized to demand a hearing pursuant to subsection (d) of this section shall not be entertained if it appears that the applicant has failed to demand such a hearing or that the chief judge, after hearing, has ordered him delivered over, unless it also appears that the remedy by hearing is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.

(f) Nothing contained in this subsection shall prevent a person from waiving his right to appear before the chief judge of the Superior Court and voluntarily returning in custody of a proper official to the jurisdiction of the State which is demanding him.

(g) No person demanded by the Governor of a State pursuant to this section shall be released upon bond or other obligation except pursuant to an order of a court of the demanding State.

(h) Any associate judge designated by the chief judge or acting chief judge shall have the same power to act pursuant to this section as the chief judge.

Legislative History

July 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 632, Pub. L. 91-358, Title II, § 210(a); June 3, 1997, D.C. Law 11-275, § 14(e), 44 DCR 1408; May 22, 1998, D.C. Law 12-114, § 3(b), 45 DCR 486